Swedish superstar Armand breaks pole vault world record for the 14th time; clears 6.30m in Tokyo to clinch his third World Championships gold medal
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis during his world record attempt at the men’s pole vault final in Tokyo on Monday. Pic/Getty images
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis broke the pole vault world record for the 14th time Monday, clearing 6.30 meters to capture his third world championship.
Duplantis, who grew up in Louisiana but competes for his mother’s native Sweden, easily won his 49th straight meet and fifth straight major title, including Olympics, then kept the crowd around for another drama-rich half-hour to watch him go for the record.
Armand Duplantis
He cleared his top height (20 feet, 8 inches) on his third and final try — the bar still bouncing but not falling as he leaped off the mat and jumped into second-place finisher Emmanouil Karalis’ arms to start the celebration.
Big money earned
Duplantis gets $70,000 for the victory plus a $100,000 bonus for setting the record at the world championships. The jam-packed stadium that stuck around for his finale gets a great memory.
“To give you guys this moment, it’s just amazing,” Duplantis said in an in-stadium interview.
The 25-year-old first broke the record on Feb 8, 2020, clearing 6.17 meters and knocking France’s 2012 Olympic champion, Renaud Lavillenie, off the top spot.
Since then, Duplantis has improved upon the record by one centimetre every time, giving him more opportunities to pocket bonuses like the one he gets at this event.
As great a showman as an athlete, Duplantis shared handshakes and hugs with all those guys after Karalis missed at 6.20 meters to guarantee Duplantis the win.
Indians disappoint
Meanwhile, star Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar failed to qualify for the finals with a 14th place finish in his qualification group as the country’s athletes continued their disappointing performance.
Competing in his third World Championships, Sreeshankar could only produce a best jump of 7.78m in his three attempts in Group A qualification round, in one of his worst performances in more than three years. He ended 25th overall out of 37 competitors.
Those who touched automatic qualifying mark 8.15m or at least the best 12 places across the two groups made it to the finals.
In other events, national record holder Parul Chaudhary and Ankita Dhyani disappointed in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, finishing ninth and 11th respectively in their respective heat races.
Parul ended 20th overall while Ankita was 35th — and last — after the three heats.
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